Olympic Boxing Club’s Gabriel Dossen gets his European U22 Boxing Championship campaign underway today in the 75kg category this afternoon when he faces Hambardzum Hakobyan from Armenia in the last sixteen.

Gabriel is expected in the ring at approximately 2pm Irish Time.

Castlerea’s Aoife O Rourke is through to the Semi-Final of the Womens U22 75Kg Category.

She fights Carlotta Paoletti of Italy with the fight expected to be held tomorrow but there is still no confirmation on when it will take place.

The Castlerea Festival will get underway later this evening and runs for 10 days. This is the 30th year of the festival.

The opening parade starts at 8.30pm and over the next 10 days there is a variety of events taking place in the town. There will be some traffic restrictions while the parade is making its way through the town tonight.

They include the opening of the new park and playground at the Demense on Sunday afternoon, a food exhibition in the Hub on Monday evening, a walk to Clonalis House on Tuesday, a photo exhibition in the Trinity Arts Centre on Wednesday evening, Michael English live on Thursday night, Pig Racing on Friday, the RSA Safety Shuttle and a Guns N Roses tribute band on Saturday August 4th, the Swimming Gala and Rose of Castlerea on Sunday week and the agricultural show on Bank Holiday Monday.

A decision now needs to be made as to how exactly the HSE run Rosalie Unit in Castlerea is to develop, according to Minister for Communications, local deputy Denis Naughten.

At a meeting yesterday in the unit with the Minister for the Elderly Jim Daly and attended by local public representatives and HSE representatives, seven different options were presented as to how the unit might progress.

At present the Rosalie Unit in Castlerea is a residential home for about 12 residents with dementia.

A local campaign group has worked hard to keep the facility open, after the HSE had stated its intention to close it some months ago.

However that decision was reversed and Minister Naughten received a firm commitment from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that the unit as a residential facility for patients with mental health issues, would remain open. Leo Varadkar had given the same commitment in 2015 when he was Minister for Health and the future of the unit was under threat.

Deliver on your promises to the people of Roscommon and keep the Rosalie Unit open in Castlerea. That’s the simple message that a delegation from Castlerea will deliver to Ministers Simon Harris and Jim Brady when they meet in Dublin on Wednesday evening.

The Rosalie unit in Castlerea, is a residential facility for elderly people with psychiatric conditions. The facility had catered for up to 34 residents in recent years, but is now down to 12 people, with no new admissions for some time.

Three years ago, when news of the possible closure of the facility emerged, the people of Castlerea and surrounding areas were given a commitment by the then Minister Kathleen Lynch that the unit would not close.

But according to Liam Walsh, a member of the delegation travelling to Dublin on Wednesday, and whose mother is a resident of the Rosalie Unit, the future of the unit remains in the balance.

He spoke to Midwest News today about why the delegation is travelling to Dublin for the third time this year in an effort to retain the unit.

A family advocate, who travelled to Dublin yesterday for a meeting on the future of the Rosalie Unit in Castlerea, has described the events as a shambles.

HSE management failed to attend the meeting between a local delegation and Ministers Harris and Daly over the future of the unit.

A local delegation made up of Oireachtas members, family advocates and local councillors were due to meet with Ministers Harris and Daly and Executive Clinical Director for HSE West Amanda Burke and Chief Health Officer Tony Canavan. However Ms Burke and Mr Canavan were not in attendance.

This was despite a formal request from Senator Maura Hopkins’ office requesting they attend so a clearer picture could be gained about what is happening with the Rosalie Unit.

It was agreed that the meeting would be reconvened and Senator Hopkins wants a new date confirmed by the end of today.

Liam Walsh’s mother is a resident of the Rosalie Unit and he was party of the family delegation that travelled to Dublin yesterday. He told Midwest News they are beyond frustrated

Clinical assessments on the 12 residents of the Rosalie Unit in Castlerea were completed in May and were not paused as had been the understanding.

That’s the update given to Fine Gael Senator Maura Hopkins by Chief Executive Officer of the HSE Tony Canavan this week.

Concerns were raised with Senator Hopkins by family advocate Liam Walsh yesterday, that the clinical assessments were continuing, despite the fact that Minister Jim Daly had requested they be paused.

Mr Canavan told Senator Hopkins that he had replied to Minister Daly’s letter requesting the pause and told him that he was not possible for him to agree to a pause on the assessments of the residents.

He also said the clinical assessments were in fact completed in May of this year and now an independent review of those assessments is now taking place.

The HSE has no intention of admitting new residents to the Rosalie Unit in Castlerea. That was clearly stated just last week by HSE Chief Health Officer Tony Canavan at a meeting of the unit that was attended by Ministers, public representatives and local interests.

At present the Rosalie Unit is a HSE residential home for about 12 residents with dementia.

A local campaign group has worked hard to keep the facility open, after the HSE had stated its intention to close it some months ago.

However that decision was reversed and local Minister Denis Naughten received a firm commitment from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that the unit as a residential facility for patients with mental health issues, would remain open. Leo Varadkar had given the same commitment in 2015 when he was Minister for Health and the future of the unit was under threat.

But despite the promises and commitments to date the HSE are insisting that no further residents are being admitted to the facility and instead are providing seven options that it sees as potentially the way forward for the unit.

Yesterday Minister for Health Simon Harris was in Boyle for the opening of a new Primary Care Centre and he met a delegation supporting the retention of the Rosalie Unit as a residential facility for patients with specific mental health needs. The Minister outlined his frustration and dismay at the lack of progress on this matter and he again reiterated the government’s commitment to its retention.

Local Senator Maura Hopkins was at the meeting last week between the HSE and public representatives. She has been telling Midwest News Editor Teresa O’Malley why all interested parties are frustrated with the HSE’s response to date.

A Roscommon Senator says she is very frustrated after HSE management failed to attend a meeting between a local delegation and Ministers Harris and Daly over the future of the Rosalie Unit in Castlerea.

Fine Gael Senator Maura Hopkins says she is very frustrated following the events of yesterday evening.

A local delegation made up of Oireachtas members, family advocates and local councillors were due to meet with Ministers Harris and Daly and Executive Clinical Director for HSE West Amanda Burke and Chief Health Officer Tony Canavan. However Ms Burke and Mr Canavan were not in attendance.

This was despite a formal request from Senator Hopkins’ office requesting they attend so a clearer picture could be gained about what is happening with the Rosalie Unit.

It was agreed that the meeting would be reconvened and Senator Hopkins wants a new date confirmed by the end of today.

Emergency services attended the scene of a single-vehicle crash in Castlerea yesterday evening.

The driver of the car was taken to Sligo University Hospital by ambulance with serious head injuries following the collision, which occurred at about 6pm on the Williamstown Road, just outside Castlerea.

A deputation from Castlerea were planning to travel to Dublin later today to meet with the Health Minister Simon Harris and the Minister for Mental Health Jim Daly, in relation to the future of the Rosalie unit in Castlerea.

However, Minister Daly has requested that the meeting be postponed, due to diary issues.

It’s now been rescheduled for three weeks time -Wed 28th March.

There are major concerns about the future of the home, which accommodates 13 elderly people with Alzheimers and dementia, after the HSE said the facility is not part of its long-term plans.

No new admissions have been taken into the home for the past year and a half.

However, a campaign is underway locally to retain the Rosalie unit, with thousands of people signing a petition to that effect.

In the Dail yesterday the Minister for the elderly Jim Daly, indicated that the Rosalie Unit in Castlerea will not be closed down as a HSE facility, but may no longer serve as a residential facility for elderly people with alzheimers or dementia.

He was responding to another question on the facility’s future submitted by local Fianna Fail deputy Eugene Murphy.

Last Friday, Tony Canavan of the HSE told oireachtas members that a report on the unit, that is home to twelve residents, is strongly indicating that the residents needs would be better met in an alternative location.

Residents and their families strongly disagree, but Mr Canavan said that while the unit as it stands looks set for closure, he has passed on the report to a medical expert to review before a final decision is made.

Councillor Murphy told Midwest News this afternoon, that yesterday’s statement by the Minister appears to concur with Mr Canavan's.

The Government has confirmed that committments given in 2015 in relation to the Rosalie Unit in Castlerea will be honoured.

Roscommon-based Minister Denis Naughten has received a letter from the Minister for Mental Health & Older People Jim Daly, confirming that the Rosalie Unit will continue to form part of the service delivery for older people.

This comes as a welcome development for the residents of the unit and their families, as a senior HSE manager had indicated recently that the facility may close.

Minister Daly points out that the matter of the best interests of the current residents of the Rosalie Unit is a separate issue, and independent assessments of each resident will be carried out to assess the most appropriate long-term care plan for each individual.

That's perfectly acceptable, according to Liam Walsh, who's an advocate on behalf of resident's families.

Following a packed public meeting on the issue again on Monday night in Castlerea, Liam Walsh has welcomed this letter from Minister Daly, which he says is great news for the current residents, and those who might need the unit in the future.